In the

human mouth In human anatomy, the mouth is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food and produces saliva. The oral mucosa is the mucous membrane epithelium lining the inside of the mouth. In addition to its primary role as the beginning ...

, the incisive foramen (also known as: "''anterior palatine foramen''", or "''nasopalatine foramen''") is the opening of the incisive canals on the

hard palate The hard palate is a thin horizontal bony plate made up of two bones of the facial skeleton, located in the roof of the mouth. The bones are the palatine process of the maxilla and the horizontal plate of palatine bone. The hard palate spans t ...

immediately behind the incisor teeth. It gives passage to blood vessels and nerves. The incisive foramen is situated within the incisive fossa of the

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. T ...

. The incisive foramen is used as an anatomical landmark for defining the severity of

cleft lip and cleft palate A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The te ...

. The incisive foramen exists in a variety of species.

Structure

The incisive foramen is a funnel-shaped opening of the in the bone of the oral

representing the inferior termination of the incisive canal. An oral prominence - the incisive papilla - overlies the incisive fossa. The incisive foramen is situated immediately behind the incisor teeth, and in between the two

premaxillae The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammal has ...

The incisive foramen allows for blood vessels and nerves to pass. These include: * the

pterygopalatine nerves The two pterygopalatine nerves (or sphenopalatine branches) descend to the pterygopalatine ganglion. Although it is closely related to the pterygopalatine ganglion, it is still considered a branch of the maxillary nerve and does not synapse in th ...

to the hard palate. * the nasopalatine nerves from the floor of the

nasal cavity The nasal cavity is a large, air-filled space above and behind the nose in the middle of the face. The nasal septum divides the cavity into two cavities, also known as fossae. Each cavity is the continuation of one of the two nostrils. The nasal ...

. *the sopalatine branches of the infratrochlear nerve, a branch of the

ophthalmic nerve The ophthalmic nerve (V1) is a sensory nerve of the face. It is one of three divisions of the trigeminal nerve (CN V). It has three branches that provide sensory innervation to the eye, the skin of the upper face, and the skin of the anterior sc ...

(V1), itself a branch of the

trigeminal nerve In neuroanatomy, the trigeminal nerve ( lit. ''triplet'' nerve), also known as the fifth cranial nerve, cranial nerve V, or simply CN V, is a cranial nerve responsible for sensation in the face and motor functions such as biting and che ...

. * the sphenopalatine artery supplying the

mucous membrane A mucous membrane or mucosa is a membrane that lines various cavities in the body of an organism and covers the surface of internal organs. It consists of one or more layers of epithelial cells overlying a layer of loose connective tissue. It i ...

covering the hard palate of the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

. * the sphenopalatine vein draining the mucous membrane covering the hard palate of the mouth.

Clinical significance

As many nerves exit the incisive canal at the incisive foramen, it may be used for injection of

local anaesthetic A local anesthetic (LA) is a medication that causes absence of pain sensation. In the context of surgery, a local anesthetic creates an absence of pain in a specific location of the body without a loss of consciousness, as opposed to a general a ...

. When plain radiographs are taken of the

, the incisive foramen may be mistaken for a periapical lesion. The incisive foramen can be used as a landmark when describing

, which can either extend in front of (primary) or behind (secondary) the foramen. It is also important as a

surgical Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

landmark to avoid damaging its nerves and vascular structures.

History

The incisive foramen is also known as the anterior palatine foramen, the nasopalatine foramen, and the incisive fossa.

Other animals

In many other species, the incisive foramina allow for passage of ducts to the

vomeronasal organ The vomeronasal organ (VNO), or Jacobson's organ, is the paired auxiliary olfactory (smell) sense organ located in the soft tissue of the nasal septum, in the nasal cavity just above the roof of the mouth (the hard palate) in various tetrapo ...

. It can be found in

cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members o ...

, and alligators.

Additional images

File:Gray187.png, Inferior surface of base of skull File:Incisive fossa.jpg, Incisive fossa

References

External links

* {{Authority control Foramina of the skull